The Fury of Hercules (1962)

This movie begins with "Hercules" (Brad Harris) riding in a chariot and suddenly being ambushed by a group of men. Upon defending himself the leader recognizes that it is Hercules that they are attacking and yells for his men to withdraw. Hercules then proceeds to his destination which is the city of Arpad to pay his respects to the king. However, when he gets there he is informed that the king and all of the other counselors he knew previously have all died. The new ruler is the king's daughter "Cnidia" (Mara Berni) who he knew when she was a child and who quickly falls in love with him when they meet again. Unfortunately, although she believes that she is in control of the city the fact of the matter is that her lead adviser "Menistus" (Sergi Gainsbourg) is actually calling the shots and nothing happens without his consent. That said the one thing he doesn't want is somebody like Hercules appearing out of nowhere and disturbing the status quo. Now rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that the entire movie seemed to be both routine and predictable which caused it seem rather dull. Likewise, the dialogue—which was initially in Italian and dubbed into English—seemed extremely basic which didn't necessarily help in that regard. Although it might appeal to die-hard "Sword and Sandal" fans I personally found it to be somewhat boring and therefore rate it as below average.

The Fury Of Hercules finds Brad Harris as the legendary muscle dude and son of Zeus trying to visit an old friend who was the local monarch. He was away way too long and his friend has died and his daughter is now the Queen. But she's got an evil counselor in Serge Gainsbourg who has her wrapped around his finger. He's got the population half enslaved building a wall around the city, the better to keep enemies out and he's got a few of them.It takes a while for Hercules to figure out who the good guys and the bad guys are, but soon enough he joins up with the rebels. The Queen is miffed because she's got a thing for muscles, but Hercules can only see one of her handmaidens.With few exceptions this is the basic plot of many peplum films, they vary only with the name of the strong man hero. Not even Serge Gainsbourg who does play an interesting villain with issues is enough to lift The Fury Of Hercules from eternal mediocrity.

The generic "Hercules" plot can be found here. This plot is set in a tyrannical kingdom where an evil ruler, often a queen, faces a revolt from freedom-loving rebels. Not surprisingly, the queen casts lustful eyes upon Hercules and tries to win him to her side but he's more attracted to one of the queen's handmaidens who turns out to have ties to the rebels. The queen then resorts to magic spells to temporarily cloud Hercules' mind but he soon comes to his senses and joins the revolt, usually enduring some bondage, torture, and tests-of-strength along the way. The ruler is overthrown, the rebels are victorious, crowds cheer, and Hercules gazes lovingly upon the handmaiden. There are only minor variations to this plot in "The Fury of Hercules." The queen, for instance, is more misguided than evil, and Hercules never once winds up in chains, but all this is still familiar enough to confuse with a dozen other sword-and-sandal productions. If there's a distinguishing factor here, it's Idaho-born Brad Harris who has not only the body of Hercules but also a good-looking face. His acting is adequate and his personality passable. One wishes he had better material to work with. He should, for example, have more scenes in which he's completely bare-chested. Get rid of that strap over his shoulder! Weasel-faced Serge Gainsbourg, so villainous in "Revolt of the Slaves," does the same sort of job here.

Hercules was such a nice demigod.This actor is not bad at it tho I like the late Steve Reeves better.Vote: 3 [where 5 = avg., 10 = perfect]